At What Stage of Sleep Do We Secrete Human Growth Hormone?

People go through many things every single day. No matter what you do, the body keeps on working non-stop. Of course, after all that, the body needs to repair itself. For this to happen, all you need is a good night’s rest.

Your body is relaxed during sleep, but your brain is at its most active state. While the rest of your muscles are at rest, your brain keeps on signaling tissue repairs, sorting through memories and releasing hormones.

This is why when you always lack sleep, you cannot function to your full potential.

One hormone that keeps you going is Human Growth Hormone, or HGH. You might think that it is only about growing up, but it is more than that.

Aside from allowing rapid growth in children and teens, this hormone gives you the driving force to do your daily tasks. The only problem is that the brain does not produce this hormone continuously, even during sleep.

To release the hormone, there has to be a trigger. This trigger is either doing exercises, or reaching a certain stage of sleep. A common question would be, “At what stage of sleep do we secrete human growth hormone?” People live busy lives today, which is why many of them are concerned if they can reach the stage of sleep where the body releases the hormone.

HGH Production: At What Stage of Sleep Do We Secrete Human Growth Hormone?

People go through four stages of sleep, unless they wake up sometime in the middle. Moreover, these stages do not always go in the right order; some stages will go back to a previous stage before going to the next. It is important for every person to reach the most important stage of sleep – the REM sleep stage.

REM sleep or rapid eye movement sleep is the fourth stage of sleep. The first one is light sleep, and the second one is the true beginning of sleep. Once you reach the third, it is already harder for you to wake up from noises or stimuli.

However, sleepwalking or bedwetting often happens at this stage. It is also in the third stage where glands begin secreting hormones.

During REM, the brain surges with brain activity. This is where a person starts dreaming vividly. To prevent the body from acting out your dreams, the brain will paralyze various muscles in the body. This only happens during REM, which explains why people sleepwalk during the third stage.

Optimum repair of body tissues happen in this stage. Even though the heart and lungs are working on a very slow state, the blood will enter the muscles more effectively. This is also the part where the body generates energy to use the moment you wake up. More importantly, this is the time where glands release hormones to the fullest.

How the Body Releases HGH

During sleep, the body secretes 75 percent of the HGH that your body usually makes, especially during REM. This also means that missing out a lot of sleep would affect the overall output of the hormone.

The release of human growth hormone in the REM stage does not always happen. Sleep is the best way to cause the gland to release HGH naturally. The problem is that many people cannot follow a regular sleeping pattern.

The pituitary gland, the one that makes this hormone, needs a trigger to release a surge of the hormone, and this trigger is the REM stage. The gland will still produce HGH even if you lack sleep, but it will only release fewer amounts.

Some scientists made an experiment to see when and how the human growth hormone releases during the stages of sleep. They placed a group of people in a location where they had no idea about the time of the day, or any cues that would tell them that it is time to sleep. They instructed these people to sleep whenever they felt like it.

The people in this place broke their sleep patterns. After testing their blood for HGH, their levels of HGH was lower, even after sleeping. This shows how important it is to maintain a regular sleeping pattern if you want your body to create more of this hormone.

Keeping Up with Your Sleep Patterns

For some people, having eight to ten hours of sleep daily is difficult. In this case, the best thing you do is to maintain a regular sleep schedule.

If you are used to waking up somewhere at seven or eight in the morning, you need to wake up at that time as much as possible.

Even if you stayed up later than your usual time, it is still best to wake up at that early time. You can then supplement the lost hours of your sleep by having hourly naps in the following days.

If you know people who ask, “At what stage of sleep do we secrete human growth hormone?” tell them to try and sleep at least eight hours a day to reach REM sleep. This allows them to get more HGH every time they sleep. Through that, they too will have more energy and a better mood to handle their daily lives.